Voicemail
by Anhalir
Summary: Magnus returns to New York rested and relaxed, but his phone is ringing off the hook which leaves him to make a difficult decision. This is a gap filler from Magnus POV of bumping in Clary in COB after her last fight with her mother.


TMI

 **Hi all! I haven't fallen completely off the face of the earth. I've been trying to work on Vincit Qui Se Vincit, but I've started losing connection with my boys because I haven't been reading them now that The Bane Chronicles are finished. So, I have started re-reading TMI, and short little stories like this are to help me get back into the mood (It's working, slow but sure). As always the characters are not my own. They are CC's, I just like filling in gaps.**

Voicemail

" _Magnus… its Jocelyn… Jocelyn Fray. When are you coming back? It's Clary. It's been two years, and I think she's starting to remember. Please, call me when you get back. I'll do anything…"_

A long finger pressed the screen of the phone silencing it as Magnus released a long, tired sigh. This was the twelfth call he had received from the woman in two weeks, and he felt no more inclined to respond to it than he had the previous eleven times. Yet here he was, exiting the portal at Madame Dorothea's.

"She's been waiting for you to turn up."

Magnus turned to the woman. She wasn't a warlock, but had been adopted by one, and therefore knew, and was capable, of some magic. He drawled lazily, "My magnificent self is a hot commodity." She was a small stout thing that could be intimidating to the right person. Though, all he could see when he saw her was a woman preying on mundane naivety with her theatrics. There was a slight tremble in her limbs and a nervous clasping of her hands that told him she feared him. It made him wonder what her mother had been like. Warlocks were infertile, incapable of having offspring, but being immortal often caused a yearning for familiarity and affection; to take care of something and watch it grow. He had never felt the urge to adopt, but others he encountered had. He satisfied that yearning with a cat.

"Have you heard any news?"

"About what, exactly?" He fixed her with a quizzical expression. He had heard many things. It was not as those he was obligated or willing share that knowledge.

Dorothea glanced hesitantly about the room as if she about to say 'He-who-must-not-be-named'. "About Valentine."

Not quite Volde, but perhaps worse. A tinge spasmed in his back, but he managed to keep a bored expression. The rumor was that he was back. Perhaps even in the city, but Magnus was not so sure of that. Fear did strange things to people, and rumors had a way of running out of control. It may also have explained the trepidation in Jocelyn's voice on the phone. It sounds like there was more there than Clarissa's sight returning. A smile bloomed on his face, large and toothy. Shadowhunter business wasn't his business. Let them deal with their fallen star. "I've been too busy organizing a celebration for my cat. It's his birthday later this week. It needs to be celebrated with flair."

Dorothea looked as though she were about to protest, but Magnus didn't allow her the opportunity. He dropped her a slow, casual wink as he turned to walk out of her apartment. What he didn't expect was what he found on the other side of the door. Red curls framed her petite face, and green eyes flashed up at him in surprise. She saw him. Her head tilted back and up instead of down at his glamour; a cat to those who couldn't see through the veil.

There was an unexpected pang of hurt that followed. There was no recognition in her face. She held no knowledge of him. That was supposed to be a good thing. That had been what he was paid to do, but for some reason it hurt.

Magnus didn't trouble himself with mundanes, often. He'd had lovers in the past, but most of them were short lived. Clarissa Fray, for all intents and purposes, was a mundane, and the only one he can truly recall watching grow. He'd first met her when she was four chasing pixies and scaring her mother half to death. He had taken her sight away, then; made it impossible for her to see the shadow world. He had to see her every two years since, and with that he saw her change. He watched the toddler turn into a young child excitedly telling him of her art classes at school and her favorite teachers. Then came the moody pre-teen confused an uncomfortable with such a strange man in her presence. She had grown into herself the last time he saw her. She looked like her mother more and more with each passing visit nearly no sign of her father present, but he noticed it in her eyes. She had fire, drive. It was a passion nearly impossible to extinguish, a passion he came too close to encountering once before. Hers did not set his teeth on edge, though. She knew nothing of the shadow world, and therefore had no care or knowledge of its occupants; no deep seated hate for downworlders. Instead her passions were positively based on her art, her friends, her mother, and the wolf.

Something happened that caught the young woman's attention causing her face to turn away. When she turned back to face him, her eyes widened in surprise then searched the area. So, the spell hadn't completely worn off yet. The pain it instilled was worse than the previous lack of recognition; to watch her brows furrow in confusion and frustration at his sudden disappearance. The quickness of the reaction suggested it had been something she encountered before. What else of the shadow world had she seen?

Magnus realized, then, at least part of what bothered him. It was a half-life. She carried on only seeing a small portion of what she was gifted to all due to someone else's decision. She was nearly an adult by now - time is a fickle and fleeting thing, but in this one mortal it's finite for Magnus. Should it really be her mother's decision anymore?

As he watched her leave the building, Magnus looked up toward the second floor. He could go and sit with Jocelyn until Clarissa returned, do the spell, and move on. He could remove that ever changing face, morphed by age and knowledge, from his mind and remember that her business was not his. He could remind himself that these were shandowhunters, and the personal grievances her parents caused him. Yet, as much as he told himself he could do these things, he knew he couldn't. He'd become too attached, too invested in her wellbeing… to protective of her flourishing life. This was not what she deserved.

Turning on his heel, Magnus returned to Madame Dorothea, and ignored her probing questions as he opted to use her portal once more. He'd talk with Jocelyn later. He needed to settle his own thoughts, first. They still had some time.

 **Thoughts? This is my personal interpretation of Magnus' feelings toward Clary. He's more attached to her than any other shadowhunter with the exception of Alec. It made me think about their origin, and** _ **Born Into Endless Night**_ **(which was amazing, btws) helped solidify some of my thoughts.**

 **Despite not being on FanFiction a lot lately, I have noticed some changes. A lot of the stories and authors I favorited are gone. I don't know how I feel. I will continue to post here, at least until I finish Vincit Qui Se Vincit, but you might see my stories pop up on a different site.**

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